


The Rampage of the Marionettes

by Yuri_the_Eighth_Demoness



Series: Notebook of Originals [3]
Category: Original Fiction - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: F/M, Original Fiction, Original work - Freeform, Short Story, Shorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-20 20:30:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14901468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuri_the_Eighth_Demoness/pseuds/Yuri_the_Eighth_Demoness
Summary: The Festival of Faces is an annual event that happens on October, celebrated by the entire city with much merrymaking. And once every ten years, a mysterious Circus comes into town to join in the festivities. Those wise enough seek more from this arrival and its curious entertainment a reward that promises Magick to anyone worthy of it.





	The Rampage of the Marionettes

They were built by some Magick to be _different_ , like statues but were more slender, more agile, more graceful...figures towering some six and half feet or so taller than humans, taller even than the brothers that were given steward of them. They were the _Sword and the Shield_ , a Marionette couple that were never meant to be anything else but together. Thus, they had been given to _twin_ Masters…

 _EE’TuSIR’raK_ was the name of the **female**  Mummer. A glittery pink rose made up of lace and ribbons, an inverted bloom that the petals of the flower became her skirt, falling to shape like a small bell’s around her slender waist, ruffles like that of a porcelain doll’s dress.

She was covered top to toe in satin. No skin exposed, just that endless texture to her very ends and tips, her hair a mass of flowers and more of those spiraling ribbons and much tulle like some expensive fan. No face. Just a mask. Small eyes, small lips…decorated with swirls of pink and red and white and gold and silver much like everything else that she was, sometimes a sunflower in the mornings while she sits on the balcony, waiting for dawn, a quiet blossom, soft and fluid in her movements as if she were the water in the pool or the light of a candle, dancing in her excess of silk, the train spilling down her form.

 _De’NU’MonDo’Eh_ was the **male** , hard and dark as his gender suggested. A steely figure with folds and folds of cape and cover dragging behind him on the floor. He was TuSIR’s complete opposite, and black was his colour. As was silver and gray and shades of it like _Monsieur Death_ down the hallway.

But he moved in his own graceful manner, not as agile but powerful, carrying a stature about him that sometimes suggested he would have been _her_ prince if he were human. The obvious gloves. The stripes of black and gray that was his skin, his arms, his legs, his clothing like the night sky with diamonds for stars powdered all over in a pattern which defined the _Magick_ that had made _him_ , but whose meanings have been lost long ago.

Perhaps only the Carnival can interpret them…if only the Carnival told their secrets that is, which they do not. No matter.

De’NU’MonDo’Eh likewise did not have a face. A similar mask but plainer. No lips. Just the path of a tear down a cheek and slits for eyes…

The Marionettes, since given to their current owners, had existed in the darkness of the house. But how they had lurked. Either of the twins have had such moments when, completely forgetting at times how _unusual_ their lives had been the past years, still get startled by either TuSIR or MonDo pausing in a shadowy corner, keeping very still, looking but not really looking at them.

They had such _strange_ habits, these two, like how from time to time they stare at the moon or pop out of a seeming nowhere to cock a head to one side, though the twins had eventually become accustomed to them, the couple’s presences becoming a constant in the otherwise peaceful residence…until that one morning when the said presences… _disappeared_ …

“Oh damnit!!”

Marken aimed and shot his spell directly at his fleeing Marionette but she drifted out of its path like a feather. A wasted pentagram, not to mention the Magick it took to weave it, but he tried again.

The twins chased the two Mummers as they ran a course through the city, leaping from one building to another, scaling the sides like lizards with the finesse of the jungle’s great cats, propelling themselves up or over with a simple flick of the wrist, the very epitome of defying gravity.

It wasn’t like them at all to flee from their Cards, to break free from their Seals or disobey their Masters. In fact, they had been all but obedient the past ten years, teaching spells and enchantments to the twins and also executing them as their familiars.

They were bound to be subservient, built by the _Contrata_ the twins had signed with their very souls to never be unfaithful, to not question a thing. Made mute, they did not say a word but just did as they were told.

Up until the day the Festival of Faces started and the Carnival came to town. That time every ten years when the company puts up the most mystifying show on earth…yet could it be?

“Marken, do you think they’re headed for the Circus?” asked Reyike as he waved on the face of MonDo’s blank Card to once more open the capturing spell and binds, failing thrice already since they’d started their pursuit.

They had summoned the winds to help them in the chase, allowing feats of flight and levitation. Such a task required all their more powerful reserves of spells and Magick, and it was draining them quickly of their power.

“I don’t know. I don’t think they have any reason to. What would they want with the Circus?”

The twins lost track of their quarry as they passed through the city’s busiest district. Even the sensory connection that made the two aware of their Marionettes presences was severed somewhere along the way.

Could be that there was another stronger individual whose power muffled the connection, or the two escapees had done it intentionally so they won’t be followed. Either way, it was necessary to find them.

“Could they be aiming for revenge?”

“What makes you say that?”

The boys aimed for a higher vantage point, opening a portal to the spire tower of the tallest building this part of town to continue their tracking.

They tumbled out onto the sloping roof, Reyike immediately making a canopy of one hand over his eyes as his other clasped the metal of that tower for support. Marken took a few seconds to catch his breath after following suit, determining that he was more exhausted than he thought he was.

First to discover the Marionettes disappearance, first to see MonDo breaking the barrier of the house and spiriting TuSIR away with him, he tried to stop the cursed beings but was met by the full force of their skills. They had drained him of his powers that much.

“You all right Marky?” asked Reyike noticing his brother struggling, but Marken all but denied his better self from bursting into weakness and joined his twin.

“Found them yet?” and he eased his glance over the streets below, working even as the drops of sweat began to slide down the sides of his cheeks.

The wind blew cool, an early morning breeze, but it did little to console the drifting thoughts in Marken’s head as he continued to ponder. Into the past years and back to _that_ first day. He began to recall what had happened…

They had passed the test, and in the center of the Carnival, in Circus’ Main Tent where in silence one could hear nothing but the Old Mender’s spindle with its _click-click-click_ …a thread was made of the young twins’ souls.

As they watched while the line was pulled out of them by their hearts, slowly, painlessly, in a thin silvery glitter like a spider’s gossamer, the thing a warm tickle on their chests, the Ringleader gave them his approving tip of his old top hat, his insanely long legs making an awkward bend by the knees, the devil’s glowing red eyes seen under the brim, face smiling even as he was giving them fair warning.

His voice echoed,  interrupting the silence and the ticking of the Old Mender’s spindle, “Disaster. Remember. Disaster” and he looked from one boy to the other, “Keep your leash tight lest you want to know why letting go of the chain is _catastrophe_ …”

Ringleader leaned closer, this time with an even thinner finger pointed at Marken’s heart and seemed to look right into his very being.

He continued, “…complacency is calamity.

“Guard the keys to _their_ locks with your very souls to avert disaster. Let your determination be stronger than the power you’ll possess.

“Remember boy…”

“Marken!” Reyike’s voice cut through the other’s reverie with such urgency that Marken came crashing to the present with a gasp. “What’s wrong with you?”

That grimace on his twin’s face Marken immediately remedied with an annoyed, “What?” to which Reyike frowned, replying, “I found them. Down there!” and pointed.

Marken trailed towards the direction, and spotted what appeared to be blots of colors; looked like stains on the pavement except those said blots were traveling through space at an unbelievable speed, a pace that could have made them appear like blurs even to the most sensitive of _normal_ eyes.

Marken reigned in his self control, “Let’s go” and without a second’s hesitation, simply dived.

Reyike was stunned, but promptly followed into the free fall, coming after his twin only a few seconds, seeing Marken mumble words into a clenched fist, powering a spell and halfway some sixty stories flinging it beneath to open a portal hole.

The void swallowed them into darkness and zipped close instantly, only to teleport them close to where the Marionettes had emerged, now scaling up this and that building again, feeling their Masters near and fleeing.

Reyike flung the next spell this time, sensing how Marken had by now nearly depleted his power. He sent its grasping tendrils at TuSIR, who had her back turned, however, realizing she was being targeted, spun and simply parried, weaving through those reaching ribbons of Magick and flipping clear of their pointy tips.

MonDo stood in the way. But when it seemed he was the one the spell would capture, he quickly pulled out the Devil's Scythe from ‘neath his flowing robes and slashed.

“I forgot he could do that,” Reyike took a moment to curse, but was entirely stunned when the spell was flung sideways to a building.

Glass exploded.

The spell had cut through the side and destroyed the building’s façade. Luckily no one seemed to be in those spaces yet. But there was the problem of early walkers and pedestrians below; those who took the time to stop and gawk, not really seeing what was happening but curiously sensing the twins and the two unusual beings they were after.

Of course the falling glass was obvious, people immediately scurrying out of the shower in panic, screaming, some unable to escape the danger.

“ _Reforma!_ ” Marken cast the spell in a hurry, a prompt reaction to the trouble, causing the shards to return to their former state, time rewinding and piecing the shattered glass to become whole.

Reyike followed, “ _Kalimtan!_ ” instantly making all those in the area forget what had happened.

_“What are we doing?”_

_“I don’t know.”_

_“Shit, I’m late!” “See you later!”_

_“Bye!”_

_“We should be going too…”_

The early patrons scurried off thankfully, life continuing as if nothing had disturbed it to begin with.

“De’NU’MonDo’Eh! What did I tell you about endangering people’s lives?!”

Reyike shot a spell at his Mummer, but the black one sank to the face of the building, robes dissolving before he disappeared completely into the shadows. He pulled his female counterpart with him, she too dissolving into the darkness with one head-first leap of faith.

This was a familiar trick the twins had learnt three years ago. Reyike knew however how dangerous it would be to follow, the route into _that_ dimension often treacherous. But then what choice was there? They’d lose them if they won’t hurry.

“Come on Marky!”

When Reyike turned however, he saw his brother already falling faint, Marken almost collapsing if not for his twin’s saving arm, steadying him. He held on. He knew he’d pushed himself too far this time.

“You should stop casting those spells - they’ll drain you!”

“S-Sorry…I’ll be careful.”

“How about I go alone?”

“No. You won’t be able to handle them together.”

Marken was right. It would take the two of them to trap the Marionettes back into their Cards, the best approach still to join their efforts and separately capture the couple. But his brother still couldn’t help but worry.

Long ago they'd discovered that their powers, although close, were not entirely on the same level. Reyike was best at quick bursts while Marken could tolerate the higher forms of  _incanto_ in their arsenal, often the one to conjure the more powerful of their chants and summons.

It also meant he was the one quick to tire himself, exhaustion fast to settle after he casts.

“We need to follow them,” Marken insisted even as he felt himself dwindle, fumbling to his feet.

“But you’re-”

“Let’s go” he looked at his twin with unfading determination, unfazed even by his current state.

He did not wait for Reyike, instead, pushed a hand through the same spot where MonDo had vanished into, aiming to follow the path. The surface gave. “Come on Ike.”

Marken held his hand out. Only after the briefest of hesitations, and a realization that he won’t be able to stop his brother no matter how he tried, Reyike took the invitation and sank into the shadows with his twin…

~*~

The darkness of the Shadow Dimension was overwhelming as it always was, grim, thick, the surroundings a transparent soup where they found it hard to move in, but only until the brothers wrapped themselves in a thin barrier of protection, after which they were able to flex fingers, move hands.

“Still effing freaky,” Reyike shivered despite himself, seeing the creatures of the dimension poking out with their singular eyes, blinking, waiting…

It takes him back to the days when they had accidentally, and foolishly, stumbled upon this _realm_ , chased by the large monsters that hid themselves in the black of this dimension, particularly the long-tailed chimeras whose teeth almost turned them to food, if not for the prompt reaction of their Marionettes who’d fended off the hungry creatures.

Now however it was different. Because they had been diligent enough and had thus become stronger, the Shadow Dimension bowed to their will and claim, its denizens and creatures not daring to touch them out of fear and respect. But of course that never meant the monsters have never stayed waiting. it was still a dangerous place for humans...and the siblings were still _half_ that…

“Ike! There!”

Marken was first to spot ahead of them De’NU’MonDo’Eh, the Mummer just making a run for it, his feet and trailing robes leaving ripples on the water-like surface of the realm. But where was EE’TuSIR’raK? Reyeike looked up and saw her darting, leaping away upside-down towards the opposite direction.

The brothers nodded at each other, “Split!” before they separated to capture their respective Marionettes.

MonDo took to the infamous Hall of Mirrors in the dimension, and faded into multiple running images as Reyike pursued him, the brother nearly confused as he ran from one reflection to another, breaking the looking glasses easy with charged bursts of Fire Spears, only to be greeted by more and more mirrors forming and reforming around him.

It was getting frustrating!

MonDo had now decided to hide, a still figure with only his mask visible.

“Shit…” and Reyike was stuck in one place, breaking more of the glass in his searching but fists not coming into contact with anything but the thick atmosphere of the dimension.

“TuSIR!” Marken was having lesser luck…

Not only was he weakened but had been taken to the worst section of the Shadow Dimension, the graveyard, where the largest monsters in the realm lived between broken grey tombstones and massive crosses. Already, he was faced by the leviathans, the massive blobs with only their noiselessly wailing mouths and ink-dripping limbs reaching…

 _I’m gonna get toasted_ , Marken parried, evading those tendrils aiming to pull him down the murk of the realm.

He dived, slipping through more ink-limbs as they were thrust at him by the globs, the pointed tips connecting with the walls of the dimension making a hard cage that the boy needed to blast through. Draining. Marken panted. He used the back of his hand to wipe off of his brow the sweat threatening to obscure his vision.

Then he caught sight of _her_ , TuSIR, the only contrast in the monochromatic world, a bright glow darting ahead of him.

“EE’TuSIR’raK!”

He would be able to reach her if he went at it fast enough except...Marken skidded to a stop...the globs stood in his way.

“Damnit…”

Reyike was fed up with having to break through mirrors and even more mirrors in search of his Mummer, so with one summon, he called upon his most powerful destructive spell, “ _Savog_!” sending all the gilded glass and their masked reflections to kingdom come, the sudden blast of wind and invisible force making the realm tremble.

It caught MonDo off guard. He shielded himself from his Master’s wrath, cape up as the shards exploded.

“Gotcha!”

Reyike leapt at his Marionette, Card out, “ _Valik_!” sending the spell tendrils to capture the other but then MonDo, not about to give in, took out his bony scythe and slashed!

He also slashed at Reyike who promptly dived backwards, the blade only managing to cut a strand of his hair.

“Why you!”

TuSIR was putting up as similar fight, Marken having blasted his way through the globs with the same spell Reyike had cast, almost in sync with his twin, clearing a space where he could confront his Marionette.

“Time to stop this,” Marken flicked out the blank Card, the Mummer’s Holder. “ _Valik_!”

“ _Valik_!”

The twins concentrated and cast, strong _incantos_ spiraling out from where they had shot them. But just when it seemed like they would have succeeded, the Marionettes charged spells of similar strength and met their Masters’ summons!

An explosion!

De’NU’MonDo’Eh and EE’TuSIR’raK rose above the debris, jumping through the thin barrier separating one section of the realm from the other, finally reuniting, MonDo extending his gloved hand as an invitation which she gladly took and…they sped off again.

The twins recovered. Marken coughed as the dust swirled, hands out to wave the cloud away. Reyike was pushing off the mirror frames that had piled on top of him, discovering the many scratches on him now. He stared up.

“Marky!”

His brother coughed, “Hey Ike…” patting off at his hair gone white on account of dust. They had once again met up.

“Well?”

“No luck.”

~*~

The pursuit had taken the twins from one level of the Shadow Dimension to another, through pitch dark forests, spiraling staircases and now through the edge of the realm, the Marionettes managing to stop every single spell their Masters conjured.

“ _Vagtik_!”

TuSIR flung her ribbons, swirling them to make a tornado that canceled the Freeze easy.

“ _Mag-alab_!”

MonDo used his scythe, splitting the fire tunnel in two, sending long rows ablaze on either side of him.

Whatever their Masters flung at them, they could easily destroy, the Mummers even becoming a tag-team of sorts, TuSIR defending as MonDo did the offensive.

“Why are they putting up a fight?! They’re _not supposed_ to harm us!”

But they weren’t. The twins had not noticed how carefully the two Marionettes had evaded, avoiding to conjure their own powerful set of skills when they could have easily did, just wanting to distract the brothers. They had their reasons.

 _T_ _oday_ was _that day_.

On the edge of the dimension, close the proverbial cliff which connected this realm with Reality, the Marionettes plummeted, two graceful free-falling forms, voluminous costumes in silk, lace, satin, ribbons, tulle, heavy velvet fanning around them, catching the tiny firefly-like orbs of light which every now and then escaped into the dimension from the Human World.

The twins leapt over.

Chasing their Marionettes, they dived head-first into the ends of the Shadow Dimension, Cards out as they flung and shot spells in another attempt to get control of the Mummers seemingly running amok…

The four burst out on a different location in town, shadows shattering like glass as they all fell from the darker side of the building.

They landed, the Marionettes getting a head start,  just outside the largest park in the city where, at a distance, the large, colourful canopies with its flags flapping and massive balloons animals of the Carnival, of Circus could be seen.

The two were right. The Marionettes were indeed headed here!

“Marken!”

“ _Valik_!”

Reyike had managed to snare TuSIR and Marken was able to snag her wrists and ankles with the tendrils of his spell. MonDo looked back at his female counterpart who all but struggled in her bonds. He returned for her, but instead of using his scythe as they had expected, the brothers were surprised that he opened his hidden mouth, a wide grin reaching from ear to ear and…he screamed.

TuSIR ever knowing this covered her ears as the piercing cry like a banshee’s shattered the air from behind her. It sent their twin Masters tumbling back, the trees and other vegetation around them bending, some torn by their roots.

“When was he able to do _that_!?!” Marken screamed at his brother as they shielded their ears and sought the cover of the nearby boulders artfully left protruding across the park grounds. But even that buckled under his long, charged cry.

“I don’t even know he could do that!!” Reyike screamed back a reply, flinching, around them a raging storm, detritus flying as with nearby benches.

Because of the attack, the older brother was forced to relinquish his hold on the female Marionette, inevitably freeing EE’TuSIR’raK enough that De’NU’MonDo’Eh made off with her again, her hand in his hand.

They made another run for it.

“We won’t be able to stop them from getting to Circus like this,” Reyike gritted his teeth in annoyance as Marken struggled with his breath.

The latter was beyond tired - yet unbelievably seemed to be drawing strength from his will alone. He did not want to let these two do whatever it is that they were thinking of doing. Circus was in trouble and they couldn’t let _them_ destroy it as the brothers knew they were capable of doing.

“I’ve got...hah...an idea Ike...but we got...one shot at it,” Marken panted, supporting himself with his hands on his knees before staggering to his feet.

There was one extreme spell they could try to cripple the two Marionettes, but it would take all their strength together to accomplish, not to mention there was a very high chance that they’d destroy the area.

“But Marky, you’re-”

“So are you,” the older twin snapped right back at his brother who was also looking worse for wear, chocolate brown hair tousled and milk coffee eyes weary.

They’d both nearly depleted their inner resource of spiritual power, and yes, they both knew they were on their last few opportunities to cast spells. It was the wrong mood to leave the Reviving Elixirs behind when they left the House to pursue their escaping Mummers. It could’ve saved them the exhaustion…

Reyike sighed. He scratched his head.

“Fine,” he conceded with a frown.

What else was there to do?

Minutes later, the pursuit continued, the twins transformed by the final conjuring into long-haired adults, charging the last of their strength into this ultimate effort.

“MonDo! TuSIR!” came the twins' growls, their now-different auras causing the two to halt and look back upon the Masters they had been trying to ditch all morning.

But when they saw that the two were now heavily powered, they instantly fled once more, hand in hand…

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

The twins were spurting out words in unison, made one mind, one thought by what was called the _Pin-Vaskog_ spell in the Magick Book they had studied. They had only attempted this once, eight years ago, at a final trial to prove themselves worthy to the power granted by Circus…

~*~

Ringleader stepped out to the wooden balcony of one of the larger tents, scratching his nape and still yawning, top hat askew on his head as he tried out what was probably his sixth cup of the morning. For some reasons he still couldn’t get himself to wake up, apparently, had not changed out of his pajamas just yet.

“That’s bad for you,” _Monisa_ pointed a little finger at him and at the coffee cup she was cursing.

She was his _Ma petite chérie_ , a girl trapped in a _bebé_ doll’s body, a sweet five-year-old with roses in her curls, ribbons, puffs, a child who wore an assortment of satin dresses with silk sashes. She showed no signs of emotion on her face, except when she was damning the coffee he was so addicted to.

Ringleader laughed.

“A trivial cup _m’love_.”

She frowned at it more. “What a pathetic excuse,” she ground out, before the usual plates and knives and other implements flew at him, her temper her one evident emotion when she could be so coldly elegant in the performances.

As usual, he was very inept at lying or providing excuses for that matter, but he did manage to run off with his limbs intact and that one cup of Joe precariously balanced on the flat of his top hat. Yet as he was about to steal a worthy sip from it, a sudden, massive explosion blasted from somewhere, the mushroom cloud first to pipe up before the proceeding sonic blast quaked the area in a full three-sixty circle.

_“GYAAHHH!!!”_

Ringleader tumbled, doubling over. He saved his cup with a hand but was hit by a remarkably large tree uprooted by the _boom_. The cup shattered on his face, Monisa seeing this immediately making it to his side, leaping over and sliding under the flying debris.

“Ringie!” she called out, but by the dazed look on his face and the obvious bleeding wound on his forehead figured he’d be hard to talk to for some minutes.

“Wha-What...happened…?” Ringleader was grinning with a headache, disoriented, feeling for his skull as he knew he had cracked it somewhere.

Belatedly did he realize he was now staring down the face of his little darling crouched beside him in her flouncy-petaled pink dress and golden slippers.

“Your twins,” she scowled before arching a brow and crossing her arms with a _‘hmpf!’_ , sitting back on her heels.

 _Twins?_ “Oh yeah!” and he remembered. “Was that _them_?”

Monisa shook her head at that. The _Twins_ he had granted Magick had just cratered a large area in the park and all he could do was grin so complacently at it. But that was just so like _him_.

He always found everything so amusing…

~*~

Wedding bells. It was a happy occasion marked by serenity and simplicity, of sacredness and love, the guests all cheering for the newlyweds as they walked out of the quaint little church nearest the park.

Ringleader sat with all casualness on the bench nearby, at the same time balancing a bandaged head in one palm as the twins beside him nursed their wounds and injuries, the final spell they conjured dealing them both with much damage likewise.

Circus had to intervene this time, the troop necessary to putting the park in order. They set to work in earnest before anyone else noticed.

“Ouch, easy…” Marken flinched as Reyike tried his very best to patch him up, the healing spell more or less like a hot sting in his veins as the older of the twins was treated by it.

Reyike was annoyed. “Why the hell didn’t _you_ tell us in the first place? “ but he directed this annoyance more to the snickering Ringleader who shrugged and returned to wishing he had another cup of coffee, but recalling what had happened…fifty years ago…

“Kirsteen was the only daughter of a rich business mogul in a city,” Ringleader had narrated. “Her only beloved, Edmumd, was a back alley cat who had to spend every day of his life struggling, working…they’d been childhood sweethearts…

“Kirsteen was supposed to marry the son of her father’s business partner however. The union had been arranged as part of a merger to strengthen the two families’ companies. But she didn’t want to get married. She did not love the man they chose for her…

“She and Edmumd decided to elope.”

The twins could imagine that night they had ran away, how cold it might have been, how dark, but yet these two star-crossed lovers could not have been happier. They were going to be together, forever…but it had been a short-lived bliss…

Ringleader was somber when he continued the tale, “What she had not felt for her fiance, her fiance felt for her. The fool, when he found out that Edmumd had _stolen_ Kirsteen, ran after them in hate, vowing revenge on her lover…”

According to Ringleader, on that day, Circus had come to town too, and on the mysterious fair grounds of the Carnival, surrounded by colourful tents and mysteries, the fiance had caught up to them. A shot was fired. But it was Kirsteen who fell, shielding her beloved from the bullet that would have otherwise killed Edmumd.

“Her fiance fled, a coward unable to face the consequences of his actions, leaving Kirsteen and her grieving lover and best friend…he also left the gun.

“Edmumd, in utter sorrow knew how life would never be life without her so he decided…he decided to do the one thing that would allow him to honour his promise to her…that they would be together…”

Edmumd had shot himself. It did not take a lot of imagination for the twins to picture out how the two lovers ended up in a pool of their own combined blood, having lived together, now dying together, but happy again, still very much in love even as the life flowed out of them…

Ringleader recalled what happened next with much vividness. He was there, as the two almost breathed their last, his form a grinning shadow in the light of the Circus tents, the ever-present top hat pulled low as he tipped it down for them.

“Isn’t it a little too early for Valentines?” the stranger’s voice was an absurd bell to the ears of the dying, but they were aware how amused he had been. “Say, since you two are _dying_ …

“How’s about you join _our_ Circus?”

~*~

“So all this was because they wanted to witness a wedding?”

Marken had been bandaged up good and it was now his turn to tend to his brother’s less serious injuries. They both looked at their Marionettes, two invisible presences sat on a large branch on a tree nearby, in each other’s arms, watching the guests and families taking pictures, souvenirs.

The only souvenirs they had were the bullets in their bodies, made immortal in their very souls, reminders of how far they can actually go to be together. A picture of love...

TuSIR tipped her ribboned head to MonDo, the latter touching his temple to her, a clear show of affection, their hands laced, fingers united as their non-beating hearts were one.

“So they have never been married?” Reyike asked Ringleader who laughed characteristically.

“Oh _they are_ married. Their contracts to the Circus are one therefore _they_ are also one.

“It’s just that since this place held such importance to them - well, this _was_ where they died - they are likewise attached. For some reason, before, wherever Circus might be, when a couple gets married here, they come to witness it.”

That came as a shock. “So this has happened before?”

“All the time,” Ringleader laughed, a creepy near-demonic cackle but the brothers were somehow used to. "Too bad the chapel will be torn down soon..."

The twins will never understand the complicated world by which they had been cast into ten years ago, but they do know this now: that they had been likewise entrusted something _special_ , not only in the form of spells and enchantments, but in these two _beings_ that serve as their guardians and friends.

“Wish we could’ve known. We would just have allowed them to go.”

“Well, you did get a morning’s worth of good exercise,” Ringleader stood up, stretching his long, spoke-like legs.

The brothers looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“What?” Ringleader could only grin at their exasperation. “It’s just a matter of speaking…”

At that Marken shook his head. “Time to go Ike. Let’s get the lovers home.”

The crowd had dissipated. The wedding merrymakers had gone off to the reception to continue their revelry, unaware that the union had likewise been witnessed by an unusual couple.

“Ei TuSIr, MonDo!” Reyike beckoned. “Let’s get going! We still plan on attending class you know.”

The two Mummers obliged their Masters, sliding off their branchy perch and landing gracefully to earth. They stood before the twins, holding each other’s hands, waiting for the spell to be uttered.

“ _Valik_ ,” and they allowed themselves to be encased by the enchanted ribbons, pulling them into the homely confines of their Blank Cards.

After finally and _successfully_ sealing them in, the brothers looked hard at their two Marionettes now appearing as beautiful illustrations on the face of the Cards: De’NU’MonDo’Eh with his moon and stars, the Sword; EE’TuSIR’raK with her sun and roses, the Shield. His protector was her. Her supporter was he.

Then Reyike noticed something, having flipped his card over and taking a careful look at the design on the back of it.

“Hey Marky, check this out…” he showed him what he discovered, prompting his brother to check the back of his own Card.

To their pleasant surprise, the intricate curlicatures and flowers, fragile tendrils and bones decorating the back of the Cards actually connected to make a heart, half belonging to half the twin, one Marionette each.

“Well that’s new,” Marken smiled with a sigh.

They are discovering something different about their powers every day.

~*~

As they watched the form of the twins slowly walking off from the tents, Monisa cast Ringleader a suspicious look. Already, she was dressed in her finest lace and flowers, a cute creature of blue with a number of butterflies and falling ribbons. She will be doing the tightrope tonight, her balancing act utilizing a parasol.

“You haven’t told them,” she crossed her small arms, already annoyed.

“What is there to tell, Monie? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” grinned Ringleader.

“We all know very well that _they_ will be sixteen soon enough.”

The underdressed Ringleader scratched his head. “So?”

Monisa surprisingly did not fly into another of her tirades, instead, gave a long sigh of disappointment.

“You’re  _supposed_ to tell them that the Marionettes will be the _least_ of their _worries_ when that happens…”

She had that contemplating look beneath her apathetic visage, imagining how life would quickly change after that year comes to pass. She looked at Ringleader with worry, nay, with fear worst than she had ever felt.

When he noticed this, he turned to her with an honest smile, as if to say it will be all right.

“Oh that?” smiled the Ringleader. “Nah…” and he looked up at the floating balloons of the Circus, its many flagged tents, their clean stripes decorated with so much gaiety. They would perform their best tonight, that he could be sure. The twins did say they’d be back after class. Perhaps he can ask to have TuSIR and MonDo make a special appearance? They have never been in the fray for a while. The others would be thrilled.

But behind Ringleader’s calm and insanity, he too had his doubts. He may not live after the _sixteenth_ year comes to pass. Yet he chose to be enthusiastic, even as Monisa glared, not one for tears though inside she was wailing.

“Why not Ringie? You’ll…” she stopped. She can’t say it. “Why?”

He scooped her up easily into her arms and gave her a loving kiss, before gesturing towards all of Circus, to show her how they will stay strong as they have for centuries.

“I wouldn’t want to miss it,” he smiled as, this time, she did shed a frightened tear, burying her face unto his shoulder with a sob.  “I wouldn’t want to miss the _greatest_ show on earth.”

**Author's Note:**

> Monisa and Ringleader remind me of Lestat and Claudia for some reason. This story is nostalgic...


End file.
